Account for the Success of the Anti-Saloon League and the other Moral Reform Organizations

During the Progressive Era

The success of the groups which operated within the Progressive Era can be attributed to various
factors, what seems important is the social and political conditions in America which gave the
Progressives a serious appeal and credibility. These conditions can be associated with the anxiety
within American society which came with the modernization and a worsening state of public order,
furthermore, the groups associated with moral reform were united and passionate about their cause
whilst those who may oppose it were divided and indifferent to moral reform1. However, their
success lies in more than simply capitalizing on national feeling, their success can also be attributed
to the support that they were afforded by both the political and financial establishment. Although
being considerably influential in terms of lobbying for legislation, these groups were also powerful
in a grass-roots capacity, often bypassing the police and acting almost as vigilantes. This essay will
argue that these groups were successful because they exaggerated their own causes resulting in
hysteria and in turn support for their goals. The strongest example of this would no doubt be the
way these groups fuelled the flames of hysteria in America with the war on prostitution and the
establishment of the myth of the international“White Slave Trade” which was supposedly
corrupting American society at its very core. The support of big business and of important
politicians and public figures were important factors in accessing why moral reform organizations
became so influential, however it was the way that they tapped into the fears and anxieties of the
typical American which made them so powerful.

Prostitution was seen as a sign of moral decline by moralists, furthermore it represented the
perceived result of many issues which moralists were anxious about.2 Therefore, attacking
prostitution would be an attack on all that was believed to be wrong with American society. It was
this breadth of social concerns which made the movement so successful as Morton Keller notes:

“the variety of the sources of public anxiety over prostitution, stretching from traditional moral-
religous qualms to new concerns over class, race, ethnicity and public health, made its regulation an
important public issue”3

This crusade was a formidable one then the one they waged on alcohol and drugs as it was an
issue which exacerbated American anxieties to a greater degree. Urbanization brought many women
into an alien environment, as David Langum quoted Jane Addams as saying “Never before in
civilization have such numbers of young girls been suddenly released from the the protection of the
home and permitted to walk unattended upon city streets and to work under alien roofs”4. These
fears of urbanization were exacerbated by the changing attitudes of women who were becoming
more overtly sexual in the urban environment, many men and women alike were in no rush to see
women break from the traditional role of being wholesome, pure, subjective and domestic5.
Prostitution represented women making full use of their sexual autonomy which many were
unsettled by. Prostitution was approached in a scientific manner to give credence to the cause of the
moralists, this was also done in regards to the issues surrounding alcohol and drugs but to a lesser
extent. The American Society of Sanitary and Moral Prophylaxis was one of the leading groups

1 “Moralists had the advantage of being united, well organized and obsessive while their opponents were divided and
usually uninterested”, Michael Woodiwiss, Organized Crime and American Power, 2001, pp.172
2 “Prostitution gave meaning to deeper problems of immigration, urbanization, and above all, the dramatic changes in
the status and roles of women that threatened traditional forms of sexual control and traditional ideas of civilized
morality”, David J. Langum, Crossing Over the Line, Legislating Morality and the Mann Act, 1984, pp.15
3 Morton Keller, Regulating a New Society-Public Policy and Social Change in America 1900-1933, 1994, pp.119
4 Ibid, David J. Langum, Crossing Over the Line, pp.17, he cites the quote as being from Jane Addams, The Spirit of
Youth and the City Streets, 1909, p.5
5 Ibid, Langum, Crossing Over the Line, pp.17
campaigning against prostitution, it was lead by Prince A. Marrow who's article Social Diseases
and Marriage proved to be very influential.6 Such works as this and Horrors of the White Slave
Trade gave the anti-prostitution an intellectual and scientific backing. It was amongst these social,
cultural and even scientific worries that the idea of the white slave trade was able to gain mass
attention within American society. This mass attention would manifest itself in all aspects of
American culture and would be a “gold mine to journalists, editors, moviemakers, and publishers”7.
With so much discussion revolving around this issue in American culture, the idea of a white slave
trade would encourage widespread hysteria. Once this concept began to gain momentum within
America it started to set off another “flash point of social tensions”8. With white slave hysteria in
full swing, prostitution would spark the social tension of immigration to a greater extent than drugs
and alcohol would be able to. Anxieties of immigration were coupled with the many anxieties that
came with urbanization, as Richard Hofstadter observes:

“The native was horrified by the conditions under which the new Americans lived- their slums, their
crowding, their unsanitary misery, their alien tongues and religion-and he was resentful of the use
the local machines made of the immigrant vote”9

Anti-prostitution characterized the worries that came with urbanization and increased immigration,
the concern over these “new Americans” no doubt fuelled the idea that there was an international
white slave trade, it was this trade that believed to be part of the corruption of young rural women
who'd moved into the city and made distraught by its intensity and lead astray. It was true that the
city was having an effect on women which was in some ways sexual, this can be seen in the dance
halls and other somewhat sexual public behaviour.10 The level of public interest in the issue of
fighting prostitution grew to such a level as to influence the passing of substantial legislation such
as the Mann Act of 1910.

White slavery was something which would not have been so profoundly influential without the
media and journalistic input which encouraged it. Well respected journals such as the New York
Times and The Outlook reinforced the idea that there was an international trade of young women
lead by “immigrant pimps and brothel owners damned in print”11. There was also significant
financial and economic backing from important businessmen and the church, J. D Rockefeller for
example backed the cause. This all resulted in the Mann Act (1910) which was an important piece
of legislation in its time, the effects it had upon American society exhibits the success of the anti-
prostitution contingent of the progressive movement. Discussing the reasons for the success of the
moral reform organizations depends on the different ways in which they were successful. In terms
of achieving legislation, the Mann Act is comparable with the 18th amendment (1919) and the
Harrison Act (1914); these acts all account for the major legislative successes achieved by moral
reform organizations, however the relative importance of them is debatable. That being said, the
cultural and social effects which the issue of anti-prostitution had upon the nation were certainly of
greater prominence than the issues of drugs and alcohol. This can be seen in the grass-roots action
of the moral reform groups who bypassed the police12 and took the situation into their own hands.

6 Paul Boyer, Battling the Saloon and the Brothel: The Great Coercive Crusades, pp.263, found in Allen F. Davis &
Harold D. Woodman's, Conflict and Consensus in Modern American History-Eighth Edition, (1992, Heath and
Company), pp.268-279
7 Ibid, Paul Boyer, Battling the Saloon and the Brothel, pp.262. Boyer illustrates the various intellectual and literary
works that were inspired by the concept of the white slave trade.
8 Ibid, Langum, Crossing the Line, pp.17
9 Richard Hofstadter, The Age of Reform-From Bryan to FDR, 1968, pp.176
10 Ibid, Langum, Crossing the Line, pp.18 “the open sexuality of their behaviour, the new and untraditional dance
forms, the drinking, and the hugging and kissing in public, socked middle-class Americans”
11 Ibid, Langum, Crossing the Line, pp.29
12 Following the turn of the century, policing was generally just an institution working in the interest of politicians and
not so much in the interests of the general public.
As Boyer states “the anti-prostitution drive had assumed the characteristics of a national crusade”13,
the crusade was pushed forward by progressives taking the shutting down of brothels into their own
hands. The progressives often spoke of the marriage of “liquor and lust”which manifested itself in
the American saloons which were scorned upon by progressives and by the Anti-Saloon League of
course.

Prohibition was another great cause of the moral-reform organizations in America, spearheaded
by the Anti-Saloon League, the crusade for temperance was similar to the crusade against
prostitution in terms of its roots. However, this aspect of the moral crusade had certain advantages,
one such being in its organizational make-up and another being in its political and economic
potential. Although it had strong appeal in a cultural and social capacity, it would not be as strong as
the drive against prostitution, the support it did have was extremely enthusiastic and persuasive
however.14 Prohibition also presented a financially lucrative opportunity for many as it opened up
illegal markets15, it was the most united and well organized aspect of the moral crusade, having its
efforts concentrated in the ASL.

The success of the ASL lay in its political and professional strength, this was embodied in
William Anderson who importantly changed the image of the crusader to something more slick and
professional.16 As a lobbying body it was fairly impressive, the charismatic leadership of Anderson
was reinforced by its devoted membership, a key part of this membership was the female support
that it was able to gather. Prohibition had a strong appeal to many women, the idea of women being
opposed to alcohol was nothing new as the progressive movement in the 19th century had seen
groups such as the Women's Christian Temperance Union set up (1874). Some women hoped to stop
the vices which kept their men in the saloons, spending money on “liquor and lust” and not on
supporting a family was something many women traditional domestic women hoped to curtail. It is
likely that the female drive for prohibition was intensified by the urbanization occurring following
the turn of the century. A similar view was held by many in the business community; money spent
on vice was not spent on manufactured goods, furthermore, the saloon was thought to encourage
fraternal behaviour strengthening union activity. This support from the business community came in
the form of 14,000 US businessmen contributing funds to the ASL by 1919, similar to to anti-
prostitution big names such as John D. Rockefeller backed the cause.17 As with prostitution, the vice
of alcohol was seen by the middle-classes as a threatening form of behaviour adopted by the urban
working classes and the various immigrant communities which existed within it.18 We can therefore
observe urbanization again attributing to the growth of moral-reform organizations, however it is
unlikely to have had such a strong effect as it did in regards to prostitution. Prohibition was
reinforced by a racial element that was directed more towards the black population than towards
European immigrants like anti-prostitution had done. The racial twist on the prohibition argument
was put forward by the elite of the movement such as as the medal of honour winning navy admiral
Richard Hobson who had claimed “liquor will actually make a brute out of a Negro, causing him to
commit unnatural crimes”19

“Liquor and lust”were certainly the main enemies of moral-reform organizations, however as
stated, these groups were broad in their ambitions and were trying to restrict all forms vice.
13 Ibid, Paul Boyer, Battling the Saloon, pp.262
14 Ibid, Hofstadter, The Age of Reform, pp.288- “Even if the desire for Prohibition was a minority sentiment, it was the
sentiment of a large minority, one whose intensity and insistency gave its members a power disproportionate to their
numbers”
15 See Michael Woodiwiss, Organized Crime and American Power, pp.170-226 for an in depth discussion of the illegal
markets which the crusade against vice opened up.
16 “With his instinct for politics, his tenacity as a lawyer, and his sharp tongue, he would accomplish far more than
Carry Nation's hatchet ever had”, Michael A. Lerner, Dry Manhattan, 2007, pp.10
17 Ibid, Mike Woodiwiss, Organized Crime and American Power
18 Ibid, Richard Hofstadter, The Age of Reform, pp.
19 Quoted in David F. Musto, The American Disease: Origins of Narcotic Control, 1987, pp.305
Narcotics would also be attacked by the moralists of the progressive era. There were no major
moral-reform groups concerned primarily with stopping narcotics in the way there were groups
such as the ASL campaigning against liquor and lust. That being said, the concerns that reformers
had towards narcotics were similar to those that reformers concerned with “liquor and lust”, in
which case, these concerns would fan the flames of anxiety in American society. Anti-Narcotic
reforms were based very much on international and racial concerns, in particular there was the fear
that cocaine “might have contributed to the dread the black would “rise above””20. This was
coupled with the issue of Asian opium and American imperialism in Asia such as the acquisition of
the Philippines, these issues made fighting narcotics an international issue and in turn increased
xenophobic attitudes.21 Therefore it seems that although the dawn of widely available narcotics in
American society didn't encourage the growth of any moral-reform groups in particular, it did feed
into the anxiousness and hysteria of the American people which fuelled moral-reform organization
in general.

Moral-reform organizations shaped much of American legislation and represented the substantial
force of the morally and ideologically motivated middle class in America. Their power lay in the
special circumstances that followed the turn of the century, this period saw important demographic,
social and cultural changes which set the foundations for the success of the moral reform groups.
The cause which encapsulated the anxieties which these changes brought about seems to have been
anti-prostitution. In none other of their goals were these groups able to apply themselves to riding
the wave of American anxiety and hysteria to the same degree. It was also a cause which was
afforded strong financial and political backing; the combination of all these factors is was what
made any of the moral-reform groups goals able to realize, of all their goals this combination
worked best in the case of anti-prostitution.

20 Ibid, Musto, The American Disease, pp.7

21 “Along with this prejudice came a fear of opium smoking as one of the ways in which the Chinese were supposed to
undermine American society”, Ibid, Musto, The American Disease, pp.6